Course in French with English subtitles --
Ce cours introduit à la vie et à la pensée du réformateur Jean Calvin (1509-1564) ainsi qu’à son influence sur le monde moderne et contemporain. La démarche proposée se veut critique, il ne s’agit ni de canoniser ni de condamner Calvin, mais de comprendre sa pensée avec toute la distance requise et d’en analyser les enjeux.
Au cours de la première semaine, nous explorerons les principales étapes de la vie de Calvin. Les semaines 2 et 3 seront consacrées à l’étude de sa pensée théologique et de son éthique. Enfin, lors des semaines 4 et 5, nous nous interrogerons sur la diffusion du calvinisme dans le monde et la pertinence actuelle de la pensée de Calvin.
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This course is an introduction to the life and thought of the reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) and to his influence on the modern and contemporary world. The approach we develop is critical: we intend neither to canonize nor to condemn Calvin or his thought. Our goal, rather, is to avoid any rash evaluation in order to understand his thought and analyze the issues at stake in it.
During five weeks, we will explore together the life and work of the Reformer. During the first week, we will study the main aspects of Calvin’s life. Weeks 2 and 3 will focus on his theology and his ethics. During the last two weeks (weeks 4 and 5), we will ponder how Calvinism became a worldwide phenomenon and ask ourselves what kind of relevance Calvin’s thought may still have today.

從本節課中

La diffusion du calvinisme - The spread of calvinism

Le calvinisme a connu une diffusion internationale très rapide et très variée, d’abord en Europe puis, au fil des siècles, sur tous les continents. Il faut distinguer deux plans de cette diffusion et réception du calvinisme : l’impact des idées de Calvin sur les Églises, sur le christianisme, et l’influence, plus difficile à étudier car plus diffuse, des idées de Calvin ou des idées qui se réclament de Calvin, dans toutes sortes de champs de la réalité humaine (arts, philosophie, culture). L’objectif principal de ce troisième module est d’offrir une large vision de l’héritage calvinien et calviniste à partir de 1564, en Europe et au-delà.</p> <p>Calvinism spread internationally very rapidly and in quite diverse ways, first in Europe and then, in the course of time, on all continents. It is important to distinguish two aspects of this spread: the impact of Calvin's ideas on the Churches, on Christianity, on the one hand, and on the other the more diffuse influence of Calvin's ideas (or of ideas which claim to come from him) in all kinds of areas of our world (the arts, philosophy, culture, and so forth). The main objective of module 3 is to present a broad spectrum of the Calvinist (or Calvinian) legacy, from 1564 onwards, in Europe and beyond.

Friedrich Schleiermacher is one of the greatest Reformed (Calvinian) theologians.

Born in 1768, he died in 1834.

Both his father and his grandfather were pastors. Brought up in a pietistic Moravian community, Schleiermacher had a powerful religious experience as a child.

Pietism was a Protestant movement that emphasized the direct, experiential dimension of faith. As such, it was a reaction to what it perceived as overly intellectual approaches to faith.

Schleiermacher is a fascinating man. He was influenced by the Enlightenment as well as the rising Romanticism of his time.

In fact, he was very close to several leading figures of German Romanticism, including Friedrich Schlegel, with whom he roomed for a time.

He was deeply influenced by Pietism, and particularly its insistence on the experiential dimension of faith.

Schleiermacher co-founded (with Humboldt) the University of Berlin, and served there as professor of theology.

He translated several works of Plato; he was a pioneer in the field of hermeneutics -- the theory of interpretation (esp. of texts).

As pastor of the Trinity Church of Berlin, he was renowned and popular.

In fact, his funeral procession was attended by thousands of followers.

He wrote: "I've invented nothing, as far as I now, except how to order themes and, here and there, a descriptive phrase."

In reality, as a thinker, he deeply impacted Christian theology.

His conception of God owes much to Calvin, especially in its avoidance at all costs of anthropomorphism, of any human projection onto God.

Let us not imagine, for instance, that God reacts to our prayers and that God modifies God's intent in any way.

For Schleiermacher, God does not react; God acts.

Humans, as they relate to God's action, are merely receptive. One, in one's very being, is in a situation of total dependence in relation to God.

As far as the world and external things are concerned, however, we at times endure them passively, but at other times we have the ability to affect the world, to exert some (limited) influence
on the things that surround us.

In our relationship with God, there is no such two-way dynamic between action and reaction, between activity and passivity.

Only God's action on us has any reality; there is no meaningful way in which our action might influence or affect God.

Is this the Biblical vision of God -- a God who shows mercy, who allows himself to be affected by the plight, the suffering of mankind? Again, Schleiermacher is wary of any anthropomorphism
that projects human feelings onto God.

This does not mean that God is made of stone, however. God is love, God is the living God, God is wisdom.

This represents, in fact, the pinnacle of any theological discourse according to Schleiermacher. He ends his seminal work, "Der christliche Glaube" ("The Christian Faith"), with several paragraphs
devoted to God's love and wisdom.

God's love and wisdom are expressed through divine activity, not passivity.

Here we have a central concern shared by both Schleiermacher and Calvin: to avoid dishonoring God by projecting human -- or overly human -- traits onto God.

On the matter of divine election, however, there is the clearest divergence between the two thinkers.

As we learned in Week 2, Calvin viewed divine election as twofold: God saves by granting eternal life, and God rejects by condemning to eternal hell.

As early as his adolescent years, Schleiermacher stopped believing in the notion of eternal punishment.

He expressed his inability to believe in it in a letter to his father, who replied by telling his son that, in doing so, he was renouncing God.

Schleiermacher and his father would not reconcile until shortly before the latter's death in 1794.

In 1799, Schleiermacher published a book composed of five essays that made him an overnight celebrity in Berlin (and elsewhere): "On Religion."

From a theological point of view (theology being his preferred subject), his magnum opus is "The Christian Faith" ("Der christliche Glaube").

In this dogmatic work, written mainly for the Protestants of his time, Schleiermacher distances himself from the Calvinist doctrine of predestination,

which had become highly dogmatic and systematized, as illustrated by a famous diagram published by Theodore Beza in 1555 (that is, during Calvin's lifetime), which shows, on one side, the elect and
their fate and on the other, the reprobate and theirs -- up to and including
death and eternal punishment.

It is this rigidified Calvinist system that Schleiermacher opposed.

For him, contrary to this parallelistic view, there is in fact but one divine decree, that of election.

God is one; God is simple.

It is thus impossible for God to contradict Himself by electing some while rejecting others.

There is one single decision: that of electing.

Schleiermacher's entire system, in which man's absolute dependence on God occupies a fundamental position, would crumble to the ground if God were in any way divided.

For this relationship of dependence to exist, he asserts, God must be one and God must be simple.

Human beings' absolute dependence on God cannot be rooted in a reality that is divided, dualistic, or in which any kind of internal tension exists.

Thus there is only one decision: to elect.

Though the actual realization of this divine decision takes place gradually over the course of history, it is a certainty. Schleiermacher thus tends towards a universalist interpretation
of salvation.

Here we have, then, a modernized and profoundly transformed version of Calvinist doctrine in the first quarter of the 18th century.

One last point concerning Schleiermacher, which says a lot about the times in which he lived and wrote:

he worked towards the reconciliation of Lutherans and Reformed Protestants.

In the second week of our course (but not only), we learned about the fractures and divisions that arose among Protestants as early as the 16th century, particularly around the Lord's Supper
(or eucharist), and due principally to incompatible beliefs concerning the issue of Christ's presence,

i.e. the real presence (or not) of Christ's body and blood in the bread and the wine.

We learned about the criticisms addressed by Lutherans to Calvin's doctrine of double predestination, as well as his Christology (the "extra calvinisticum").

Schleiermacher, in the early 19th century, was among those who felt it was time for Protestants of all stripes to come together and settle their differences.

He strongly favored the creation of a united Church that would bring all Protestants together under a single banner.

Of course, he was fully aware of the profound theological differences that had led to the division of Protestantism into two camps in the 16th century.

Nonetheless, he was convinced that it was time for Protestants in Europe (and elsewhere) to unite.